Arkansas basketball will have another standalone Thanksgiving Day game in the 2026-27 season. On Thursday, John Calipari confirmed the surprising news that the Razorbacks will face Tom Izzo and Michigan State in Detroit.
Originally, this season's meeting between the Hogs and Spartans was supposed to be a return game in Bud Walton Arena as part of last summer's home-and-home agreement. This past November, Arkansas travelled to East Lansing and played Michigan State in Breslin Center in the second game of the season. The Spartans came away with a 69-66 victory over the Hogs, and the game drew an audience 1.67 million viewers on FOX despite going up against a full Saturday slate of college football.
Earlier in the week, Izzo initially revealed the news of the game during an appearance on the local Michigan radio show "Staudt on Sports." During the interview, Izzo said the basketball game would be played in Little Caesars Arena following the traditional Detroit Lions home game on Thanksgiving Day. Ford Field (the home of the Lions) is less than a mile away from Little Caesars Arena (0.7 miles to be exact).
Calipari confirmed the news with a tweet posted to his official X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday afternoon, where he added the game would likely end up being broadcast on CBS, just as the past two Thanksgiving Day games had.
"It looks like we are going to have an opportunity to play Michigan State in a neutral site game on Thanksgiving day on CBS next season," Calipari's tweet read. "We have been one of the most watched college basketball teams and want to build on that! Michigan State WILL return the home game to Bud Walton Arena and we are working on a date."
A number of fans voiced concerns at the initial thought of Arkansas losing a marquee home game for what is a "neutral site" game in name only as the arena will undoubtedly be heavily skewed toward Michigan State. As Calipari's tweet, sources shared with HawgSports that the matchup between the two teams in Bud Walton Arena is now set to take place early in the 2027-28 non-conference slate.
The reason Calipari and the Hogs would be eager to give up a guaranteed home game against a marquee opponent in favor of a standalone neutral site game is two-fold. One is the exposure, which Calipari alluded to in his tweet. Arkansas has become one of the most-watched programs in college basketball the last two seasons and the marquee standalone non-conference games, particularly the last two on Thanksgiving, are a major reason.
Second, and arguably most important, the Razorbacks receive a significant financial contribution from CBS for playing in these games. That money goes directly to boosting Arkansas' NIL funds, which is always a top priority for programs in today's landscape. Those NIL paydays have been a big driving force behind the uptick in marquee non-conference matchups and multi-team events in recent years.
It looks like we are going to have an opportunity to play Michigan State in a neutral site game on Thanksgiving day on CBS next season. We have been one of the most watched college basketball teams and want to build on that!
Michigan State WILL return the home game to Bud Walton…
— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) April 2, 2026
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